Around the world, the global technology, software and engineering powerhouse has worked with mining leaders to implement scalable predictive maintenance solutions that save millions in downtime costs and enhance worker safety – particularly when it comes to temperature and vibration monitoring.
Newmont’s Minera Yanacocha, Latin America’s largest gold mine in Peru, required cost-effective, constant temperature monitoring of its SAG mill motor, potentially avoiding shutdowns that could cost US$1.4mn per day.
Emerson’s Smart Wireless solutions now measure the motor’s temperature at four different points, while its DeltaV™ control system integrates alarm systems that notify operators of temperature extremes. This combination also generates trend data that enables Newmont to provide the motor manufacturer with information they can use for improvements.
A Mid-Atlantic phosphate mine turned to Emerson for vibration monitoring and predictive maintenance solutions for its vital heavy-duty draglines. These assets previously relied on manual monitoring of the equipment miles away, causing schedule and safety-related delays.
Emerson’s online monitoring capabilities enabled the team to access and analyse data from a central location, saving US$5.8mn a year through faster data collection. Improved reliability saved another US$1.3mn in cost avoidance during a downtime event.
A copper mining company in Peru turned to Emerson to help maintain operational continuity of 14 critical conveyor belts that transport ore to crushing areas and the copper processing plant with varying power requirements.
Emerson’s integrated vibration monitoring system now provides real-time data on key conveyor components—including all pulley bearings—ensuring high reliability and control while enhancing safety by allowing technicians to work from secure control rooms.
The path to prescriptive maintenance
Achieving prescriptive maintenance starts with installing more intelligent assets, embedded with sensors and automation to boost visibility into processes. These intelligent assets produce valuable data that, over time, reveals trends engineers can use to predict potential issues and identify causes before failure occurs.
In Saudi Arabia, where both greenfield and brownfield mining projects are accelerating, early adoption of intelligent asset strategies can yield exponential returns.
Greenfield projects often incorporate these capabilities from the outset, simplifying the road to prescriptive maintenance. Meanwhile, existing mining sites can adopt a phased approach, prioritising sensor installation and automation in large, critical assets based on ROI.
This automation ecosystem must prioritise interoperability to be effective.
Proprietary tech “black boxes” keep equipment data siloed, while open-standard system protocols enable all asset operations and monitoring to be accessible to the entire organisation.
Such accessibility in turn allows remote monitoring and operations centers to provide all stakeholders access to necessary data. This streamlined data-sharing enables engineering, process, reliability, and metallurgical experts to make decisions that are best for the entire process, rather than just one piece of equipment.
Automation also improves asset reliability via machine learning platforms and advanced analytics that can merge process and reliability data to build algorithms tailored specifically to a given process, enabling maintenance decisions based on real conditions.
Data from these solutions can flow upward, integrating into other higher-level systems to deliver greater operational efficiencies across the entire enterprise.
Saudi Arabia’s mining future
In Saudi Arabia, this modernisation spans three key phases: exploration and surveying, refining and smelting, and the manufacturing of semi-finished and finished products.
Government initiatives, including the Mining Investment Law and exploration incentives totaling SAR682.5 million (US$182mn), aim to streamline licensing and promote environmental sustainability.
At the same time, the Saudi Industrial Development Fund offers financial support to help operators implement advanced technologies early in a mine’s lifecycle.
These integrated efforts enhance the business environment for mining development and open the door for widespread deployment of prescriptive maintenance solutions.
By extending the best practices and proven global technologies, miners in the Middle East can reduce unplanned downtime, improve worker safety, and elevate operational efficiency - all while contributing to cleaner and more sustainable extraction processes.
This is the secod part of the op-ed written by Abdulrhman Alsanie, Director Strategic Alliances – Saudi Arabia, Emerson. Click here to read the first part.
The “glocal” prescriptive maintenance in action
